5 ms·

Making Britain more attractive for business than the EU does not sound that difficult, to be fair.

by agent008t 7y ago

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
Apparently more difficult than making the UK less attractive for business - which seems to be the current plan.
- smcl 7y ago
  It's a cute remark and I certainly don't disagree that the government (hell, even the opposition) are handling the situation horribly. But the sad reality is that post-Brexit the UK government is free to be more business friendly. I say "sad reality" because this is not necessarily good for the general public - we could see healthcare opened up to private US companies, we could see workers rights eroded, reduced responsibilities for companies, emissions standards relaxed, food standards relaxed ... Tories whine about Brussels forcing all of this stuff onto the UK, they'll gleefully strip it away at the first opportunity. It might turn out to be good for business after all, but in the same way the Iraq war was.
  - jen20 7y ago
    One must remember that a direct quote from Boris Johnson, the (now) prime minister was "Fuck Business". Leaving the EU is about avoiding scrutiny, not stimulating business. While it's true that the Tory party of old (charitably until ~2015) may have cared about competitiveness for business, that party is now dead - overtaken by the extreme right. The only thing that matters to them at this stage is power, and personal enrichment, and they have become masters of disinformation and confusion to ensure it -- a job made much easier by the generally awful state of the press in the UK. It's a shame that the opposition are, as you say, no better.
  - frobozz 7y ago
    Friendly for certain kinds of businesses and practices - those that make short-term high gains for investors through rent-seeking and asset-stripping before shutting down or selling off to the next mug before it all goes down the pan. Not friendly for manufacturing (relying on JIT inventory management across borders and regulatory alignment for exports). Not friendly for scientific spin-off/catapult startups, which rely on the the universities attracting researchers and research grants. Not friendly for anything relying on a large number of domestic customers with disposable income (e.g. retail), because everyone will have to save up against the fear of sudden unemployment or US-style healthcare bills. Basically, most things that are not good for the general public are also not good for most business, because in the end, businesses rely on customers buying their product (or in a B2B scenario, their clients' products and so on).

Making Britain more attractive for business than the EU does not sound that difficult, to be fair.

TheOtherHobbes 7y ago

Apparently more difficult than making the UK less attractive for business - which seems to be the current plan.

smcl 7y ago
It's a cute remark and I certainly don't disagree that the government (hell, even the opposition) are handling the situation horribly. But the sad reality is that post-Brexit the UK government is free to be more business friendly. I say "sad reality" because this is not necessarily good for the general public - we could see healthcare opened up to private US companies, we could see workers rights eroded, reduced responsibilities for companies, emissions standards relaxed, food standards relaxed ... Tories whine about Brussels forcing all of this stuff onto the UK, they'll gleefully strip it away at the first opportunity. It might turn out to be good for business after all, but in the same way the Iraq war was.
- jen20 7y ago
  One must remember that a direct quote from Boris Johnson, the (now) prime minister was "Fuck Business". Leaving the EU is about avoiding scrutiny, not stimulating business. While it's true that the Tory party of old (charitably until ~2015) may have cared about competitiveness for business, that party is now dead - overtaken by the extreme right. The only thing that matters to them at this stage is power, and personal enrichment, and they have become masters of disinformation and confusion to ensure it -- a job made much easier by the generally awful state of the press in the UK. It's a shame that the opposition are, as you say, no better.
- frobozz 7y ago
  Friendly for certain kinds of businesses and practices - those that make short-term high gains for investors through rent-seeking and asset-stripping before shutting down or selling off to the next mug before it all goes down the pan. Not friendly for manufacturing (relying on JIT inventory management across borders and regulatory alignment for exports). Not friendly for scientific spin-off/catapult startups, which rely on the the universities attracting researchers and research grants. Not friendly for anything relying on a large number of domestic customers with disposable income (e.g. retail), because everyone will have to save up against the fear of sudden unemployment or US-style healthcare bills. Basically, most things that are not good for the general public are also not good for most business, because in the end, businesses rely on customers buying their product (or in a B2B scenario, their clients' products and so on).